Chapter Text
Marcy realized that she’d gotten distracted again when she heard a slight cough behind her. Yelping slightly, she shut her book, one that she was supposed to be putting back on the shelf and turned to face the customer. They hardly made eye contact and simply moved past to grab a book that she’d been blocking and moved off. She sighed and moved to put the book back where it belonged.
The day had been a long one, with multiple angry customers and tons of books to restock that more often than not she started to read and get distracted by. Marcy was thankful though because now it was almost over, it was six and there was only an hour left before she got to close up shop. The owners were nice too as they let her study in the space after she’d locked up, so long as she left before eleven though, they didn’t fancy finding her passed out in a pile of books when they came to open up shop in the morning.
The final hour passed quickly enough though, once the evening hit most people didn’t tend to drop into the bookstore, or at least not on a cold winter night like today. That’s why Marcy was pleasantly surprised when she entered.
They were tall and pale, like a vampire she thought, and their long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. They were brushing snow off their jacket as they stepped in, looking around with the sort of flushed dizziness that one gets when they move from somewhere really cold to somewhere really warm fast. Marcy realized she was staring when the other girl met her eyes, both their faces flushing red. The heater must have kicked into overdrive when she let in that cold air Marcy thought. She collected herself quickly and got out a response.
“Hi, I’m sorry, but I’m going to close up in about ten minutes, so you won’t have much time to browse.”
The girl regarded her blankly for a moment, as if fully registering that she was in a bookstore and not simply some place where she could warm her hands.
“Oh, um, yeah that’s no problem,” the girl said.
“Was there anything specific I could help you find maybe? If you know the title or author, I can probably find it for you?” said Marcy.
“Uh, not off the top of my head, is there anything you recommend?”
Marcy grinned widely, as if she’d just been given the key to the world, “Why yes, I’ve got plenty of recommendations, any genre in particular?”
“I guess like fantasy?”
“Awesome, fantasy’s my favorite genre! Follow me and I’ll show you the section,” Marcy said, sliding from behind the counter, beginning to disappear through the shelves of books, hardly waiting for the girl to follow her.
She threaded her way through the different sections and past the open reading space, with its large oaken tables that she’d spent plenty of time with (maybe too much time), and towards the back of the shop.
The owners had put the fantasy section in the far back, they’d told Marcy that it gave it an air of adventure, and Marcy had to agree with them. It was like stepping into an ancient wizard’s library. Shelves towered over head and the old yellow light bulbs mirrored that of lamplight. She led the girl through the dimly lit row, the smell of aged paper and wood now thick in the air.
“So, any series in particular,” Marcy said stopping in front of one shelf and beginning to search.
“Not really, got any recommendations?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve read Lord of the Rings, Earthsea, and stuff like that?”
“Actually, I haven’t read any of those,” the girl rubbed her neck sheepishly.
Marcy let out a little gasp on accident and the girl looked away in embarrassment. Marcy composed herself.
“I’m sorry, most people I get here have read almost everything we have, so usually I have to really dig for something new, but this is great! I get to introduce you to the classics,” and Marcy began pulling books off the shelf, creating a sizeable stack that she then dumped in the other’s arms. The girl dipped under its weight for a moment, knees buckling like a powerlifter before straightening back out.
“Ok, so that should be a good start, we can check you out at the register,” and Marcy began to walk back the way they’d come.
“Hey, I’m sorry, but I don’t think you told me your name,” the girl said.
“It’s Marcy.”
“Well, Marcy. I’m thankful that you picked these out for me, but I can’t actually afford them all.”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so so sorry. I wasn’t even thinking,” and she began to quickly take back the books from the other’s arms
“The name’s Sasha by the way, and it’s totally fine, I’ll just take this one,” she said, taking a copy of The Hobbit from Marcy’s arms.
“A perfect choice. I’ll get these reshelved and meet you back at the register.”
It only took her a few moments to get things put back properly before she rushed back to the front. The girl, Sasha, she told herself, was leaning against the counter, absent mindedly reading the book she’d selected.
“Ok, sorry about the wait, that’ll just be fifteen dollars,” Marcy said, typing the purchase into the cash register.
“Don’t you need to scan this?” Sasha said, holding the book up quizzically.
“Nope, I’ve got most of the prices memorized, just need to record the purchases.”
“Wow, that’s impressive, like if I pulled a random book, you’d be able to tell me the price,” Sasha asked as she handed over the money. Her eyes had an attentiveness and interest that Marcy hadn’t seen before when she’d told previous customers that fact. Her face felt warm, she’d have to make sure to turn down the heat before she left.
“Yeah, maybe, though I don’t know everything in here, just some of them,” Marcy took the cash, did the math, and then was handing the change back to her.
“Still,” Sasha said taking her change and folding it into her pocket, letting that single word hang in the air.
They fell silent. Sasha looked outside and Marcy could tell that she wasn’t keen on going back into the cold but before she could say anything Sasha spoke up.
“Hey, do you think that when I finish this you could give me another recommendation.”
“Totally,” Marcy felt herself smile, “Just let me know what you think of it.”
“I will,” she said with a grin before taking the book and stepping out of the shop.
Marcy watched her walk into the light snow that was still swirling around, slowly disappearing into a haze of snowflakes and darkness. She had a feeling that she’d be seeing a lot of Sasha in the future, and for some reason she felt warm again. She’d have to ask the owners to check out the furnace tomorrow morning.